Just another Identity Theft Ad.....

In American literature I was assinged to write a paragraph on what I considered true identity to be. I found out I had a lot more opinions on that subject than I had known, and they weren't all going to fit into one paragraph...

We’ve all heard the ‘Protection against Identity Theft’ ads. To some of us, this may seem strange. Some of us think ‘Why would I need to buy protection for my identity? That’s who I am, no one could steal that!’ Well, sadly some of us also know that our identities can be stolen. However, we have another kind of identity that maybe some of us don’t even know about, that no one can take from us.

Webster’s dictionary defines identity as this: individuality: who a person is; what a thing is. These definitions can be taken to mean several things, but here are four main ones.

The first of these is the identity our government and strangers care about. This identity can be the name written on our birth certificates, or the picture on a driver’s license. It can be a social security number, a bank account, a vote ballot. These are the kinds of things that society looks at to tell who we are. This can be referred to as our ‘social identity’.

Our second identity however, is much more personal; the identity our friends and family know us by. This is the thing that gives us our individuality in our family or our circle of friends. Here our identity is made by things like our sense of humor, our beliefs, our likes and dislikes, our actions and our Facebook profile. Whether or not, we are the kind of person who stops to help someone with a flat tire. Or if a friend would call us because they’ve had a bad day, and they know we’ll offer encouragement. If we take time out of our busy work schedule to fly 2,000 miles home so we can gather around grandpa’s bed with the family. Or simply the fact that we don’t fold our socks, we like strawberry/lime smoothies the best, and that we prefer to watch Blades of Glory over the Titanic any day. We can call this our ‘personal identity’.

Another identity we may have is one at school. Here we are identified by endless labels, being on the honor roll, chess club president, being a varsity football starter, student body president, etc. We are defined by our weight and the labels on our clothes. If we drive a convertible, ride a bike, or walk to school. Here we are defined so much we are also put into categories, cliques. In Mean Girls, the words of Janis, “You got your freshmen, ROTC guys, preps, J.V. jocks, Asian nerds, Cool Asians, Varsity jocks Unfriendly black hotties, Girls who eat their feelings, Girls who don't eat anything, Desperate wannabes, Burnouts, Sexually active band geeks…” And of course, the evil ‘Plastics.’ Tragically, this identity can become so important to us it can cause eating disorders to reach the ‘perfect size’, drug problems to cope with discrimination, thievery to obtain the hip clothes, and suicide when all of this fails to make our lives better.

The last identity is our identity with God. This may be our simplest identity of all. God simply knows us as one of his children, or not. This depends on if we have allowed Jesus to save us from our sins, or not. The identity God determines us by determines where we will go when our time on earth is up. This is our ‘soul’s identity.’

So in the end, we are lost by our government unnoticed among the masses, except during the time of year when our taxes are due or when an important election is coming up, or if we join O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony’s clique. We blend into our lockers at school. We might lose our job and not be able to afford smoothies or socks or movies. Our friends and family can die, or become estranged to us after a disagreement. Our identity with God is our most important one, it is the only one that goes untouched by society and loved ones. The only two people involved here are ourselves, and Him. No one can steal this identity, whether they are terrorists, Facebook hackers, or professional identity thieves. This is our reassuring safe place, always there...no matter what.

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